Coin-operated vending-machine.



No. 692,786. Patented Feb. 4, 1902.

U. L. HUBD. COIN OPERATED VENDING MACHINE. (Application filed July 20 1901.) I

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No. 692,786. Patented Feb. 4, I902.

C. L. HURD.

COIN OPERATED VENDING MACHINE.

(Application filed July 20, 1901.) v

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Charles lLHurdg UNITE STATES CHARLES L. HURD, or CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF PATENT OFFICE.

TO NELLIE F. SMITH, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

COIN-OPERATED VENDlNG-MACHlNE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 692,786, dated February 4, 1902.

Application filedJuly 20, 1901.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES L. HURD, of the city of Chelsea, county of Sulfolk, State of Massachusetts,h ave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coin-Operated Vending-Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention has for its object the construction of certain improvements in the'locking devices and other details in coin-operated vending-machines.

Referring to the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure l is a sectional side elevation of the major part of my vendingmachine.- Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of theslides and of certain other parts associated with the same. Fig. 3 is a side view of my improved device for locking the slide when the chute is empty. Fig. 4 is a transverse section of a slide and its support, and Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the means for adjusting the relation of the detent and its supporting-lever.

The general arrangement of this invention is much like that of my companion application Serial No. 50,611, certain of the details being precisely alike. The main differences relate to the locking devices for the slides and to means for positively locking the ejector-- arms from movement except when the proper coin has unlocked the slide connected therewith.

The slides l have formed therein the coinreceiving openings 2 and the slots 4 parallel with the sides of the slides and communicating with said openings, as shown in Fig. 2.

Through the slot 4 in each slide passes the lever 25, pivoted at 28 to theframework and having a nose 27 constructed to be engaged by any coin or other object inserted in the opening 2 and to ride up and over the same as the slide is pressed inward.- 7 Supported on the shoulder 29 of this lever is a hooked detent 20, pivoted at 21 to the framework, the parts being proportioned to bring the hook 23 of said detent into the path of the slide when the nose of the lever25 is in its normal position within the slot 4; but the pivotal point 21 is located so near the shoulder 29 that but a slight elevation of the lever 25 is enough to raise the hook 23 free from the Serial in. 69,063. (N6 model.)

slide. Although gravity holds the detent 20 in position to'lock the slide, I prefer to employ aspring 22, fixed on the pin 35 and giving a suitable pressure upon the detent.

In mysaid companion applicationthe slidelocking device is in a single piece with the hooked shank below instead of above the slide. My present construction is an improvement over the same for several reasons. In the first place, should the spring 22 break, gravity would still hold the hook 23 in the path of the slide and prevent the latters unwarranted manipulation, while in my former construe-- tion the breaking of the spring would permit the hook to drop away from the slide, and so leave it free to be operated continuously until the chute was exhausted. Another advantage arises from the fact of the pivotal point of the lever 25 being below the slide, and hence the action of a coin against the nose 27 is much easier than were such pivotal point above. I

Each slide 1 is designed when pressed inward to come in contact with an ejector-arm 30 and swing its upper end through the lower end of a chute 46, associated therewith, each chute being suitably apertured to permit the lowermost article contained therein to be pushed out therefrom. The immediate means for engaging and pushing the articles comprise the pivoted double-pronged pawls 31, weighted at their lower ends 33 to retain their pronged ends in correct position.

There are, of course an equal number ofchutes, ejector-arms, and slides, four being the number of ejector-arms illustrated in Fig.

2. All these arms are pressed backward from the chutes by means of a single bar 53, fixed on the radial arms 54:, pivoted at their lower ends to the framework. This bar is pressed back against said ejector-arms by a spring 57, which may be connected directly therewith, but is here shown as connected through the bell-crank lever 56 and hooked rod 55. When any one of the ejector-arms is moved forward by a slide, such arm meets the bar 53 and carries the latter with it,at the same time swinging the bell-crank lever 56 and tensioning the spring 57.

At the upper end of the case of my vending machine is an auxiliary device designed to be actuated whenever any one of the slides is operated, the particular device being here shown as a cylinder containing fortune-telling legends upon its surface and being actuated through the ratchet-wheel 51 and the elongated rod and pawl 58, pivoted to the bell-crank lever 56. In this manner whenever a slide is moved for the delivery of an article from a chute this cylinder is rotated and a fortune presented to the eye of the customer."

It is possible by the proper manipulation of a wire or similar slender rod to press directly against one or the other of the ejectorarms 30, and so cause the same to thro w down the contents of a chute Without the presentation of a coin to the slide. To prevent this, I furnish each of said arms with a pawl 32, pivoted thereto and resting on the pin 35. When no coin has been placed in the slide and the detent 20 unraised thereby, said pawl remains in engagement with the pin 35, and so prevents the ejector-arm connected therewith from being operated; but by forming the detent 20 with a yoke 36 said pawl is raised simultaneously with the detent,and so renders the ejector-arm free to be operated when the proper coin is introduced into the slide and the latter pressed inward. In this manner the unlocking of each slide and of its associated ejector-arm is automatically performed by the inserted coin.

In the construction of the framework and ejector-arms I form the lower end of each of said arms with a cylindrical boss 34 and cast the framework with an arm 61,having an open pocket 62 at its lower end. Such boss and pocket being cylindrical, the ejector-arm cannot turn on its longitudinal axis, but only swing thereon as a center. At the same time the arms can be readily put in place or removed therefrom.

In the operation of this slide the proper coin placed within the opening 2 and resting on the fixed ledge 11 and the ledge 3 formed as a part of the slide slides beneath the nose 27 of the lever 25 as the slide is pressed inward, and thereby raises said lever and the detent 20. If now a thin disk were introduced instead of a proper coin, the detent would fail to be raised high enough to clear the slide end, and the slide would be unable to be moved far enough to reach the ejectorarm. A washer of the correct thickness and diameter is equally unable to operate the machine for the reason that although the hook 23 will be raised thereby high enough to clear the end 6 of the slide, yet when the nose 27 reaches the hollow center of the washer said nose sinks therein and the detent drops into engagement with the shoulder 5, formed in and on the slide.

As shown in Fig. 1, the articles 45 in each chute support a weight 4-2, having a projection designed to meet and depress the vertical rod 40 when the chute is empty. As illustrated in Fig. 3, this rod rests upon a counterweighted pawl 41, designed to engage and hold the end of the slide 1 when depressed by said weight. The advantage of this arrangement is that the pivoted pawl can more strongly hold the slide from forcible motion. If the rod itself descended into the path of the slide, it might become bent by the possible force applied to the slide and so prevented from subsequent perfect action. The counterweight serves to enable me to dispense with a spring for raising the rod and so reduces the liability to failure.

The front edge of the lever 25, at the point 26, where it penetrates the slide 1, serves to dislodge and throw down into the cash-drawer any coin which might otherwise become fixed in the coin-opening 2 of the slide. This function is performed in substantially the same manner as set forth in my said companion application-that is, by the inclined front edge 26 of the lever 25 riding up onto the coin brought into its field by the inward stroke of the slide 1, and therebypressing such coin down and out from the coin-opening, whence it drops upon the laterally-sloping shelf 6% and from thence to the money-drawer below.

In many forms of coin-operated machines it is found possible to solder a Wire or thin strip of watch-spring to a coin and with the same to repeatedly operate the machine and so rob it of its contents. I have discovered that by locating a laterally-sloping shelf (H: immediately below the point where the slide coin-openingis designed to empty its contents and employing a coin-ejector of the general form set forth in my said compa nion application it is impossible to thus rob the machine. The reason for this is that the coinejector forces the coin down upon the sloping shelf and thence down the latter to one side until in the case of a coin soldered to a wire or watch-spring such wire or spring will be so bent and twisted, if not actually broken, that it is impossible to withdraw either the wire or com.

As shown in Fig. l, the point 26, at which the lever 25 penetrates the slot at of the slide, is the coin-ejector,aoting in precisely the same manner as does the corresponding point in the dog of my said companion application.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 5, I prefer to provide the detent 20 with an adjusting-screw 19, coacting with the shoulder 29 of the lever 25, serving to perfectly adjust the hook 23 in relation to the end of the slide. This enables the coin-operated mechanism to be quickly and perfectly adjusted in the original construction thereof and in addition enables wear of the lever-nose 27 to be at any time compensated for.

A further improvement is that by means of which I avoid the frictional contact between the nose of the lever 25 and the part of the slide between the opening 2 and its outer end, such friction being quite considerable, owing to the fact of the pressure of the spring 22 upon the detent 20 being greatly multiplied on the lever 25, and consequently upon the nose,

27. This friction considerably increases the wear upon said nose, and, hence the more quickly requires an adj ustment of the screw 19 to compensate for such wear; To prevent this, I provide the detent '20 with a small wheel 17, revolubly supported at its hooked end. On the slide I form a raisedtrack or bridge 1501? such a height-and such alength' that after the nose 27 has passed the center of a coin, and hence the hollow of a washer, such bridge comes beneath thewheel 17 and raises both it and the detent sufficiently to relieve the lever 25 of further pressure; In this manner asthe nose of the said lever traverses the latter part of a coin and the surface of the slide itself it is given no more pressure thereagainst than its own light weight.

What I claim as my invention,-and for which'IdesireLetters Patent, is as follows,

to wit:

1. Thecombination with the slide having the coin-opening and the elongated slot communicating therewith, of the lever passing through said slot and pivotally supported below the slide and having the coin-engaging nose, and the detent pivoted above the slide and constructed to lock the slide except when raised by the upward movement of said lever given thereto/by acoin in said opening, substantially as described. V

2. The combination'with the'slide having the coin-opening and the elongated slot communicating therewith, of the lever passing throughsaid slot and pivotally supported be-v low the slide, said lever having the coin-en gagingnose and the shoulder, and the detent pivoted above the slide and having the slideengaging hook,said detent resting upon said shoulder near the formers pivotal point, substantially as described.

3. The combination with the coin-released released hooked detent raised to free the slide,

the ejector-arm, the pawl pivoted thereto, the fixed pin engaging said pawl,'and a connection between said detent and pawl constructed to enable both to rise simultaneously, substantially as described.

6. In a coin-operated vending-machine, the combination with the chute and the Weight slidable therein, and the coin-operated slide constructed to empty said chute, of the verti cal rod lon gitudinally movableb'y said weight,

and the counterweighted pawl supporting said rod and constructed to engagefand lock said slide when depressed bythe action ofithe weight and rod, substantially as described.

7. Ina coin-operatedvending-machine, the combination with the slide having the circular coin-opening and the slot communicating therewith, of a coin-ejector, located in said slot, and a laterally-sloping shelf beneath said opening;- substantially as described.

--'8. In a coin-operated vending-machine, the

combination with the slide having thecircular coin opening and the slot communicating therewith, of a. coin ejector located in said slot and a fixed laterally-sloping shelf located beneath the point at-which said coin-opening discharges its contents, substantially as described;

9. In a coin-operated vending-machine, the

combination with the slide having the coinopening, of the pivoted lever constructed to ride over the coin in said opening, the hooked detent coactingwithsaid slide, and means for adj u'stably supporting said detent by-said lever, substantially as described. o

10. In a coin-operated vending-machine,;

the combination of the slide havingthe coinopening and the slot,the lever passing through said slot and having the nose andthe shoul der, the hooked detent coacting withsaid slide, and the adjustingr-screw tapped into said detent and abutting upon said shoulder,

substantially as described,

11. In a coin-operated machine, the combination ofcthe slide having the coin-opening and the slot, the lever located in said slot,-thev pivoted detent, the spring pressing said detent uponsaid lever, and a support carried by the slide and constructed to engage the detent and relieve said lever from the pressure ofthe detent during the latter part of the slides inwardstroke, substantially as described.

12. In acoin-operated machine, the combination of the slide having the coin-opening and the slot, the lever located in said s1ot,'the

detent and a spring pressing it upon said lever, and a wheel and a coacting support con.

n'ectedwith said slide and detent, said wheel a and support being constructed to relieve the lever from the pressure of thedetentduring the latterpart of the slides inwardstroke,

substantially as described.

13. .In a coin-operated vending-machine, the combination of the slide having the coinopening and the raised track or. bridge, the detent normally locking said slide, a spring" for pressing said detent into engagement with the slide,and a member projecting from said detent and riding up and on said bridge when an inserted coin has released the slide from the detent, substantially as described.

' It. In a coin-operated vending-machine,

the combination'of the slide, the hooked detent normally locking the same, the spring for said detent, the lever having the nose impressed into engagement with an inserted eoin by said detent, and the Wheel carried by said detent, said slide having the bridge for raising said wheel and detent, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention I have hereunto set my hand this 12th day of July, 1901.

CHARLES L. IIURD.

\Vitnesses:

A. B. UPHAM, FRANK A. SMITH. 

